Chapter Six

Goals and Aspirations

Outcomes represent the visible manifestations of literacy education in their more immediate impact. They are also part and parcel of the total literacy experience and cannot be sharply demarcated from the processes, the content, and the more broadly ranged goals and aspirations that underlie the phenomena of becoming literate. Throughout this essay I have sought to describe the flow of literacy learning which at best, can only be imperfectly mirrored in a written text that imposes its own abstractions and categories on a process ultimately incomprehensible through language, alone. Much remains elusive even in the effort to explore the significance of content and outcomes. Such is even more the case in identifying goals and aspirations, which by their nature often transcend stated discernable ends. That aspect of growth that may be most important in any given situation may be the means exerted in the effort towards their achievement rather than in "final" objectives realized. Nonetheless, an effort is attempted in the following section in the same manner characterized throughout this study, through "thick description," the triangular deployment of evidence, and my own critical reflection.

While certain goals may be specific and concrete, others, grounded more deeply in possibility and potential, may also serve as the means by which individuals seek to transcend given realities in the on-going process of relating being to becoming. Thus, even in the attainment of a GED or a job, the satisfaction is not always only in the material objects sought, as important as they may be, but also in what they represent in the psychic and social experiences of particular individuals. These often point to more deeply rooted aspirations that perpetually call people further into life in the on-going constructions of their personal and social identities. However ineffable such aspirations may seem, they very well may hold the keys to some of the most fundamental sources of motivation, which may or may not be nourished by the tutoring process.